Once again, the 3-2-1 is heavy on recruiting. Texas is working early on top 2018 prospects while trying to close out the 2017 class. Which recruits could be instant impact players?
We take a look at three things we learned over the last week, two questions that are on our mind and one prediction. It's time for this week's edition of the 3-2-1 ...
2018 WR Al'Vonte Woodard
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. Texas already has one eye on the 2018 class.
We're a few days away from one of the final official visit weekends of the recruiting year, and a little more than three weeks away from National Signing Day, but the Texas coaches are obviously keeping a big part of their focus on some of the nations' top juniors.
It makes sense. The players the staff is offering are all going to pretty much be no-brainer takes for just about every school in the country, so there's no huge risk in throwing out offers to some 2018 elite-level prospects. It's not as if the staff is having to take a ton of time from its 2017 recruiting efforts to evaluate these prospects, and if it gets the Longhorn name in these players' heads, that can't be a bad thing.
Tom Herman stated in his press conference last week that Texas would swing for the fences in recruiting, but he acknowledged that it's going to be awfully tough to close on the top national players in the 2017 class since the new staff just didn't have time to develop relationships with players they really had not recruited prior to the coaches' arrival in Austin. He's absolutely right, which is why the staff is hitting the ground running on some of the top talents in the 2018 class with early communication and scholarship offers.
Will it pay off a year from now? We'll have to wait and see, and Texas' chances with these top 2018 prospects will largely depend on if the Longhorns can build some on-field momentum, but I don't see a single negative in offering players you know you're going to be recruiting hard over the next 12 months. I like the active approach and once again, I like that this staff actually has a recruiting plan that it's working to execute.
2. The Longhorns have pushed for elite 2017 prospects but this class will be built on good evaluations.
The Texas coaches gave it a go on some highly-rated 2017 prospects - guys like Walker Little, Chuck Filiaga, Baron Browning, J.K. Dobbins and Anthony Hines, but it looks like they're going to come up empty on most of the high-profile targets on the board. Again, not exactly unexpected with the way the previous staff recruited, which essentially handcuffed the current coaches with the bulk of the difference makers in this class.
You'll still have a couple headliners in this group - guys like Sam Ehlinger, Toneil Carter and possibly K'Lavon Chaisson, but ultimately, it looks like this year's recruiting haul will be judged on how the new coaches have been able to identify prospects who fill needs, even though those players may not have garnered as many headlines as others.
"The metrics and analytics, for those of you numbers junkies, they show that a coach's first class during the transition ... has the most attrition, it has the most misses in terms of guys who can't play, and it has the most off-field issues," Herman said last week.
As always, Herman has done his homework on the subject, saying he went back and researched the 2012 class from when Urban Meyer, Herman and Co. took over at Ohio State. In that group, 19 kids signed on NSD, and only three played significant roles during their careers.
With that information in hand, Herman said he and his staff's goal this year is as much about finding players who can fit in to the culture they're trying to instill at Texas. It's probably a big part of the reason you've seen Texas target a number of players the staff recruited at Houston ... a combination of "fit" and relationships. It's not going to be a 2017 Longhorn class that is going to blow anyone away with an overwhelming amount of big-name recognition, but if the staff can do a good job of its evaluations both on the field and in terms of a player's mentality, it still has a chance to be a very successful group.
"We're going to concern ourselves a whole lot more with this class on the relationships that we already have, the kids we know will fit into what we do and expect around here," Herman said. "And kids who want to be at The University of Texas and want to compete for championships at this kind of place."
3. Tom Herman is night and day different from Charlie Strong in some key areas.
A number of things stood out from Tom Herman's press conference last week, but my biggest takeaway may have been just how different Herman is from Charlie Strong in both his delivery at the PC and his plans for running the Texas program.
In Herman's press conference, he seemed relaxed and kept things light-hearted, but he was also direct with his answers and delivered some responses that actually relayed some interesting news. With Strong, especially over the last two years, he rarely gave straight answers about anything, and more often than not, his answers would bounce around so much they rarely even addressed the actual question. We'll have to wait to see if Herman will be the same way during the season (most coaches are not), but his direct answers on most questions were actually pretty interesting and a pleasant surprise.
Strong never seemed too concerned with Texas' facilities from the moment he took the job. Herman is already making some subtle changes to the football offices and weight room, and has plans for much bigger improvements, which frankly, are overdue. If Herman has his way, the updating of the facilities will be a bit of a revolving door, where plans are continually in place for the next project to begin once another project is completed.
"We're going to get this facility, in very short order, to the point where it's as good, if not better than any in the country," Herman said last week.
In terms of support staff, Herman mentioned that he plans to have an "army" of staff that resembles those in places like Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Michigan and the other big-time programs in college football. Strong, especially early in his time at Texas, never fought or seemingly had any desire to expand his staff, which was a misstep on his part.
The increased attention to facilities and support staff are something Texas has been lacking in the past few years, but it sounds like Herman's plan is to get things up to speed very quickly, and it appears he has the support of the higher-ups who need to approve those additions.
Toneil Carter
TWO QUESTIONS
1. Who will be the top two immediate impact players on each side of the ball that Texas will sign?
I mentioned above that this probably will not be a class loaded with star power in terms of landing the biggest names in the state, but it's still going to be a very solid group that will have a chance to contribute early at some key positions.
If I'm picking my top two on each side of the ball ...
Offense is pretty easy. The Longhorns are still looking to bring in another wide receiver (maybe even two) and another lineman or two, but the odds of those players contributing much as true freshmen are pretty slim.
Texas needs bodies at the tight end position, so it's certainly possible that a guy like Reese Leitao or Cade Brewer will play early. But I'm not sure they'll be key components of the offense in their first year.
The more obvious choices are at running back and quarterback. Toneil Carter and Daniel Young should both have a chance to touch the field as true freshman, but give me Carter as the guy who plays early and it won't surprise me if he gives a serious challenge to projected starter Chris Warren at some point. At quarterback, Texas just needs bodies so Sam Ehlinger is a no-brainer choice, and with him enrolling in this week (Carter is as well), he'll have a chance to battle for a spot on the depth chart this spring. There's already talk of Ehlinger beating out Shane Buechele at some point and while I think Buechele's experience helps him hold onto the job, Ehlinger will find a way to contribute in some capacity.
Defensively, things get a little more tricky. Go ahead and pencil in K'Lavon Chaisson as one of my picks, since I'm fully expecting him to commit to Texas at some point. Chaisson could really use a year or two in a college weight program, but he has tremendous talent and Texas needs edge rushers so he'll have a chance to play early. Josh Thompson is a strong candidate because I think he'll be a terrific player in time, but I'm not sure he makes an immediate impact so I'm going out on a limb a bit here and taking JUCO linebacker Gary Johnson with my second selection. Johnson's hard to predict because he still has four visits left and hasn't tipped his hand on a potential leader, but he clearly likes the Texas staff (he set up the UT visit as soon as he got word of the offer), Texas can sell him on early playing time and academics, and the guy is just too damn good not to contribute early if he winds up in Austin.
Honestly though, if you're asking me to select one player who will have the biggest impact on the 2017 Texas team, my money would be on kicker Joshua Rowland.
2. Does last night's national championship game come close to rivaling the Texas-USC game?
No. Just stop. Last night's thrilling upset victory was one of the best national title games I've ever watched, but it doesn't match what Texas and USC brought to the table a little more than 11 years ago.
Clemson's win is being thrown around by some as challenging Texas' win for the crown of the greatest national championship game ever, but that's merely a byproduct of the freshness of last night's game.
Texas and Southern Cal were the two most dominant programs in college football by a wide margin when they played that game. Both were undefeated. Both programs had tremendous star power, headlined by guys like Vince Young, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush. It was played in the Rose Bowl.
Great game last night and an instant classic, but it does not match up to Texas' win over Southern Cal.
Chevin Calloway
ONE PREDICTION - There will be at least one surprise visitor this weekend
Friday will mark the first of three remaining official visit weekends left on the 2017 recruiting calendar, and Texas is scheduled to have a few prospects in town. Recent OL commitment Derek Kerstetter will be in. DB Chevin Calloway confirmed he will be in. Kobe Boyce confirmed he'll be in this weekend. Recent LB commitment Marqez Bimmage told us just prior to his commitment that he was moving his UT visit up to this weekend. Those are the known visitors right now, but I'll be surprised if at least one other prospect doesn't pop up on the visit list before the week is over. In December, the Texas staff did a great job of popping a few surprise visitors like Omar Manning, Reese Leitao, Kyrei Fisher and Joshua Rowland. We'll see if the staff has any tricks up its sleeves for this weekend.
We take a look at three things we learned over the last week, two questions that are on our mind and one prediction. It's time for this week's edition of the 3-2-1 ...
2018 WR Al'Vonte Woodard
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. Texas already has one eye on the 2018 class.
We're a few days away from one of the final official visit weekends of the recruiting year, and a little more than three weeks away from National Signing Day, but the Texas coaches are obviously keeping a big part of their focus on some of the nations' top juniors.
It makes sense. The players the staff is offering are all going to pretty much be no-brainer takes for just about every school in the country, so there's no huge risk in throwing out offers to some 2018 elite-level prospects. It's not as if the staff is having to take a ton of time from its 2017 recruiting efforts to evaluate these prospects, and if it gets the Longhorn name in these players' heads, that can't be a bad thing.
Tom Herman stated in his press conference last week that Texas would swing for the fences in recruiting, but he acknowledged that it's going to be awfully tough to close on the top national players in the 2017 class since the new staff just didn't have time to develop relationships with players they really had not recruited prior to the coaches' arrival in Austin. He's absolutely right, which is why the staff is hitting the ground running on some of the top talents in the 2018 class with early communication and scholarship offers.
Will it pay off a year from now? We'll have to wait and see, and Texas' chances with these top 2018 prospects will largely depend on if the Longhorns can build some on-field momentum, but I don't see a single negative in offering players you know you're going to be recruiting hard over the next 12 months. I like the active approach and once again, I like that this staff actually has a recruiting plan that it's working to execute.
2. The Longhorns have pushed for elite 2017 prospects but this class will be built on good evaluations.
The Texas coaches gave it a go on some highly-rated 2017 prospects - guys like Walker Little, Chuck Filiaga, Baron Browning, J.K. Dobbins and Anthony Hines, but it looks like they're going to come up empty on most of the high-profile targets on the board. Again, not exactly unexpected with the way the previous staff recruited, which essentially handcuffed the current coaches with the bulk of the difference makers in this class.
You'll still have a couple headliners in this group - guys like Sam Ehlinger, Toneil Carter and possibly K'Lavon Chaisson, but ultimately, it looks like this year's recruiting haul will be judged on how the new coaches have been able to identify prospects who fill needs, even though those players may not have garnered as many headlines as others.
"The metrics and analytics, for those of you numbers junkies, they show that a coach's first class during the transition ... has the most attrition, it has the most misses in terms of guys who can't play, and it has the most off-field issues," Herman said last week.
As always, Herman has done his homework on the subject, saying he went back and researched the 2012 class from when Urban Meyer, Herman and Co. took over at Ohio State. In that group, 19 kids signed on NSD, and only three played significant roles during their careers.
With that information in hand, Herman said he and his staff's goal this year is as much about finding players who can fit in to the culture they're trying to instill at Texas. It's probably a big part of the reason you've seen Texas target a number of players the staff recruited at Houston ... a combination of "fit" and relationships. It's not going to be a 2017 Longhorn class that is going to blow anyone away with an overwhelming amount of big-name recognition, but if the staff can do a good job of its evaluations both on the field and in terms of a player's mentality, it still has a chance to be a very successful group.
"We're going to concern ourselves a whole lot more with this class on the relationships that we already have, the kids we know will fit into what we do and expect around here," Herman said. "And kids who want to be at The University of Texas and want to compete for championships at this kind of place."
3. Tom Herman is night and day different from Charlie Strong in some key areas.
A number of things stood out from Tom Herman's press conference last week, but my biggest takeaway may have been just how different Herman is from Charlie Strong in both his delivery at the PC and his plans for running the Texas program.
In Herman's press conference, he seemed relaxed and kept things light-hearted, but he was also direct with his answers and delivered some responses that actually relayed some interesting news. With Strong, especially over the last two years, he rarely gave straight answers about anything, and more often than not, his answers would bounce around so much they rarely even addressed the actual question. We'll have to wait to see if Herman will be the same way during the season (most coaches are not), but his direct answers on most questions were actually pretty interesting and a pleasant surprise.
Strong never seemed too concerned with Texas' facilities from the moment he took the job. Herman is already making some subtle changes to the football offices and weight room, and has plans for much bigger improvements, which frankly, are overdue. If Herman has his way, the updating of the facilities will be a bit of a revolving door, where plans are continually in place for the next project to begin once another project is completed.
"We're going to get this facility, in very short order, to the point where it's as good, if not better than any in the country," Herman said last week.
In terms of support staff, Herman mentioned that he plans to have an "army" of staff that resembles those in places like Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Michigan and the other big-time programs in college football. Strong, especially early in his time at Texas, never fought or seemingly had any desire to expand his staff, which was a misstep on his part.
The increased attention to facilities and support staff are something Texas has been lacking in the past few years, but it sounds like Herman's plan is to get things up to speed very quickly, and it appears he has the support of the higher-ups who need to approve those additions.
Toneil Carter
TWO QUESTIONS
1. Who will be the top two immediate impact players on each side of the ball that Texas will sign?
I mentioned above that this probably will not be a class loaded with star power in terms of landing the biggest names in the state, but it's still going to be a very solid group that will have a chance to contribute early at some key positions.
If I'm picking my top two on each side of the ball ...
Offense is pretty easy. The Longhorns are still looking to bring in another wide receiver (maybe even two) and another lineman or two, but the odds of those players contributing much as true freshmen are pretty slim.
Texas needs bodies at the tight end position, so it's certainly possible that a guy like Reese Leitao or Cade Brewer will play early. But I'm not sure they'll be key components of the offense in their first year.
The more obvious choices are at running back and quarterback. Toneil Carter and Daniel Young should both have a chance to touch the field as true freshman, but give me Carter as the guy who plays early and it won't surprise me if he gives a serious challenge to projected starter Chris Warren at some point. At quarterback, Texas just needs bodies so Sam Ehlinger is a no-brainer choice, and with him enrolling in this week (Carter is as well), he'll have a chance to battle for a spot on the depth chart this spring. There's already talk of Ehlinger beating out Shane Buechele at some point and while I think Buechele's experience helps him hold onto the job, Ehlinger will find a way to contribute in some capacity.
Defensively, things get a little more tricky. Go ahead and pencil in K'Lavon Chaisson as one of my picks, since I'm fully expecting him to commit to Texas at some point. Chaisson could really use a year or two in a college weight program, but he has tremendous talent and Texas needs edge rushers so he'll have a chance to play early. Josh Thompson is a strong candidate because I think he'll be a terrific player in time, but I'm not sure he makes an immediate impact so I'm going out on a limb a bit here and taking JUCO linebacker Gary Johnson with my second selection. Johnson's hard to predict because he still has four visits left and hasn't tipped his hand on a potential leader, but he clearly likes the Texas staff (he set up the UT visit as soon as he got word of the offer), Texas can sell him on early playing time and academics, and the guy is just too damn good not to contribute early if he winds up in Austin.
Honestly though, if you're asking me to select one player who will have the biggest impact on the 2017 Texas team, my money would be on kicker Joshua Rowland.
2. Does last night's national championship game come close to rivaling the Texas-USC game?
No. Just stop. Last night's thrilling upset victory was one of the best national title games I've ever watched, but it doesn't match what Texas and USC brought to the table a little more than 11 years ago.
Clemson's win is being thrown around by some as challenging Texas' win for the crown of the greatest national championship game ever, but that's merely a byproduct of the freshness of last night's game.
Texas and Southern Cal were the two most dominant programs in college football by a wide margin when they played that game. Both were undefeated. Both programs had tremendous star power, headlined by guys like Vince Young, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush. It was played in the Rose Bowl.
Great game last night and an instant classic, but it does not match up to Texas' win over Southern Cal.
Chevin Calloway
ONE PREDICTION - There will be at least one surprise visitor this weekend
Friday will mark the first of three remaining official visit weekends left on the 2017 recruiting calendar, and Texas is scheduled to have a few prospects in town. Recent OL commitment Derek Kerstetter will be in. DB Chevin Calloway confirmed he will be in. Kobe Boyce confirmed he'll be in this weekend. Recent LB commitment Marqez Bimmage told us just prior to his commitment that he was moving his UT visit up to this weekend. Those are the known visitors right now, but I'll be surprised if at least one other prospect doesn't pop up on the visit list before the week is over. In December, the Texas staff did a great job of popping a few surprise visitors like Omar Manning, Reese Leitao, Kyrei Fisher and Joshua Rowland. We'll see if the staff has any tricks up its sleeves for this weekend.
